A nine year review of a proposal by Ontario Power Generation to bury radioactive wastes immediately beside Lake Huron is about to enter its final stages, with the federal Joint Review Panel releasing its recommendations on May 6th, 2015.

June 3, 2015 - The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency is inviting public comments until September 1, 2015 on the potential conditions related to possible mitigation measures and follow-up requirements that could be necessary, if the project is authorized to proceed. The federal Minister of the Environmentextended the time limit for the issuance of the decision statement (by the federal Minister of the Environment) by 90 days, to December 2nd, 2015.

May 6, 2015 - The Minister of the Environment released the Environmental Assessment Report containing the Joint Review Panel’s conclusions, rationale and recommendations regarding the potential environmental effects of the proposed project.

Thirty-three days of hearings ended in September 2014. Since that time, the three-person panel - appointed by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and the federal Minister of the Environment - have been considering the tens of thousands of pages of written submissions, including OPG's proposal, and hearing transcripts. Final comments were filed by hearing participants - including public intervenors, Saugeen Ojibway Nation, government departments, the CNSC and OPG - in October. Submissions outlined numerous outstanding issues and uncertainties related to the OPG proposal. Transcripts and video recordings of the 33 day hearing are available on-line. Final comments have been posted on the registry. View final select final comments here.﻿

Ontario Power Generation is asking the federal government to approve their proposal to bury nuclear waste under the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station, near Kincardine on the eastern shore of Lake Huron.

Called a "Deep Geological Repository", the burial caverns would be 680 meters ( 2,230 feet) below the surface, approximately 650 metres ( 2,130 feet) inshore from Lake Huron. The wastes would be placed in caverns carved out of the limestone rock.

It's not the only one! The Nuclear Waste Management Organization - an association of nuclear power companies - is currently studying several communities in the Bruce area, a dozen in northern Ontario and three northern Saskatchewan as potential burial sites for high level nuclear fuel waste. Learn more

Currently, the low and intermediate level radioactive wastes from the Darlington, Pickering and Bruce nuclear generating stations are shipped from the reactor stations to the Bruce station to be incinerated or stored in the Western Waste Management Facility. If the burial proposal is approved, the radioactive wastes stored at the WWMF would be buried on-site. Low level wastes include contaminated mops, rags, and other industrial items that have become contaminated with low levels of radioactivity during routine clean-up and maintenance activities at nuclear generating stations. Intermediate level radioactive waste consists primarily of used nuclear reactor components, ion-exchange resins and filters used in reactor water filtration systems. Intermediate level wastes are highly radioactive. Nuclear fuel waste is called high level waste, and it is not currently proposed to be included in the wastes to be placed in the underground caverns Ontario Power Generation is seeking approval to construct at the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station. However, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization is currently studying more than twenty communities in Canada as potential burial locations for high level waste. Learn more